Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

Syed Moududi, despite his differences with Sufism, especially its philosophical framing and the perception of divergence of its popular form from sharia , succeeded in translating the core moral and spiritual content of Sufism understood as struggle with the lower self and perfection of virtues in the pages of his work that exudes the perfume of discovery of God by a self consumed by obedience to the Divine Will. Reading Syed Moududi one finds that one is led to take God seriously and in that light see everything else. History and our odyssey get a new meaning with fellowship of God. Sufism, according to its acclaimed Masters, is not the science of states but stations and one can take his critique of world wary intoxicating bliss pursuing indulgent Sufism in positive light. Great Masters of Sufism would thank Syed Moududi for feedback on dangers of abnegating reason, eschewing self criticism and cultistic servile following of so called spiritual guides and pleading for non-attachment t...

Sufism for the Religious and the Secular in the Postmodern World It is mainly because of Tasawwuf that Islam became a world religion and nurtured a vivifying culture and enviable civilization. The world has been conquered for good by the Sufi poets and thinkers. Sufi argument for religion and God involves the attractive power of the Truth called beauty that everyone finds irresistible as Plato would note. In fact Arabs were caught in the net of the beauty of form and meaning of the eloquent Quran and the aesthetically oriented Persians found in Sufi metaphysics their heart’s voice.      None of the great world religions finds it difficult to engage with Tasawwuf . In fact they stand for certain variant of it as esoteric dimension is everywhere. No great philosopher or poet or historian or culture critic, Western or Eastern, could afford not to appreciate it. No secular mind and no religious genius could fail to be attracted to some aspect of it. The Sufis have been rulin...

Syed Maududi's attitude towards Sufism was critical but respectful. Our attitude towards Sufism determines the answer to the complex question of our identity in matters personal and political – our view of religious/secular other. Syed Moududi’s views helped determine views of millions towards Sufism and call for attention and clarification.     Syed Moududi’s attitude towards Sufism was critical but respectful. Certain ambivalence in his attitude shows he was not quite clear on key claims of Sufism or didn’t reflect in depth on them.     Let us first note how Syed Moududi concedes, in principle, traditional understanding of Tasawwuf as spirit or interior dimension of Islam. He writes in Towards Understanding Islam that Fiqh and Tasawwuf complement each other and noted that, “What concerns itself with the spirit of conduct is known as Tasawwuf ” and “the true Islamic Tasawwuf is the measure of our spirit of our obedience and sincerity, while Fiqh g over...

Nothing in Islamic culture makes sense except in the light of Tasawwuf . It was not till the 19th Century, under the influence of Orientalists, that Sufism began to be considered non-indigenous to Islam. Let us unfold these observations. Sufism understood as inner/spiritual dimension of Islam/ Ihsan and defined in terms of key aspects by various Masters – “attention without distraction,” awareness of the present moment, doing everything in style or with an eye on beauty, sincerity of purpose, guarding against nafs and all its guises, exclusive attachment to the Real, cultivating love/gnosis, science of stations/virtues, science of realization of freedom, adab , giving everything its due, seeing everything in terms of beauty, journey within from the self/ego/psyche to the non-self/Self/Spirit, to be truly oneself or just to be and share the treasure of one’s being or presence – has been of vital importance for understanding Islamic culture and much of intellectual-religious-spiritual ...

Do we ever ask about the contemporary relevance of the use of intellect, sunlight, air and water? Similarly, we shouldn’t ask about the relevance of Tasawwuf today. Let me explain why. Anyone who reflects on what is Tasawwuf or what are its key definitions/characterisations would understand that Tasawwuf or what is said to be its true signified is to be treasured by everyone, every sane human and every Muslim. Just reflect on the standard definitions and characterisations of Tasawwuf here italicised followed by brief comments on our part.       It is the inward/deeper dimension of Islam. A Muslim can never ask about the relevance of the core of Islam. It is worshipping God as if one sees Him or imagining that God is seeing one. Isn’t it perennially the requirement of all true prayer or worship? Isn’t ihsan the perfection of Islam, the ideal end to which faith is oriented? Ihsan has also been linked to husn paida kerden (creating beauty/doing everything in a ...

Why Neo-Salafi and other Modernist Critiques of Sufism aren’t convincing? Some people can’t be satisfied with post-dated cheques or mere promises of future rewards. They can’t afford to wait after pledging to marry to postpone consummation to some future time or another life; they want immediate consummation. They can’t afford to just gaze through a veil on the object of their love and want to take their love affair with God seriously and live God, breathe God and not just talk about God. They want to witness first hand, on their own authority, what others are content to believe on other’s authority. They take the notion of heaven so seriously that they claim they have keys of it here and now and reside therein. These people don’t believe in being just good/decent Muslims but strive to be the best Muslims. They can’t afford compromise of any kind and seek to pursue perfection in every sphere. They live and die for beauty. They aren’t content to be mere slaves but seek audience of t...

Understanding Some Forgotten Lessons in Relationship with Animals in Traditional Cultures in general and Kashmiri Culture in particular. Why is it that children get ecstatic on seeing or contacting or playing with animals? Why is it that our dream imagery involves animals? Why is it that human history in general and sacred history in particular is also a history of our relationship to animals? What a misfortune that as we grow old our encounter with animals is often reduced to museum space only.       Animals humanize and sanctify. Our salvation is linked with them in many ways. If we fail to comprehend how and why of our fellowship with animals that we enjoyed as children or all normal children exposed to contact with animals enjoy due to our sharper perception of higher world, don’t be surprised. We have almost lost sense of a vital treasure of symbolism. Our Symbolism Illiteracy and Kashmir We fail to be humans invited for deciphering symbols. By being...

حقیقت عظمٰی جاننے اور اس سے رابطے کے لئے انسان کے پاس چار طریقے رہے ہیں مذہب،فلسفہ، تصوّف(سرّیت)اور شاعری۔سریت یا تصوف کو سرے سے رد کرناانسان کے ایک حس کو معطل کرنا ہے۔ ان چاروں دبستانوں کو اپنی اپنی حد اختیار میں رکھ کر انکو حقیقت کے کامل عرفان کا ذریعہ بنانا انسانکی کامل تشفگی کا ضامن ہے۔ یہ سب ایک دوسرے کی تعبیر و تفہیم میں مدد دے سکتے ہیں۔مذہب کے ڈانڈے فلسفہ و سریت سے اور تینوں شاعری کے ہمنوا بن جاتے ہیں۔ اقبال دنیا کی ان چند بڑی ہستیوں میں شامل ہیں جو ا ن سب طریقوں سے اعتنا رکھتے ہیں اور یہ انکی عالمگیر مقبولیت کی ایک وجہ ہے۔آج ہم انکیے تصوّف کی جہت کے مطالعہ کے سلسلے میں چند اہم نکتے زیرِبحث لاتے ہیں۔       دوسرے اہم علوم جنمیں فقہ، حدیث اور فلسفہ و سائنس کی بہت سی جہات اور انکی ترقی شامل ہیں کی طرح تصوّف کے برگ و با ربھی عرب سے باہر ہی ظاہر ہوے۔تصوّف عجم میں پھلا پھولا۔تصوّف ہمیشہ سے دین کا حسن یا اسکی تکمیل یا اسکی اخلاقی و روحانی جہات کی بازیافت کے طور اسلام کا جزو لا ینفک یا مقصود گردانا گیا ہے۔اس کے لےٗ احسان کی اصطلاح مستعمل تھی۔ اکابرِ صوفیا...